Over the years, Lynn Pippenger has donated more than $26 million to support the future of undergraduate accounting and finance students. Now the former chief financial officer of Raymond James has been selected as Philanthropist of the Year on Oct. 25 by the Suncoast Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
“It is a great honor and I’m quite surprised I was even thought of for this distinction,” said Pippenger in a written statement.
Last year, Pippenger donated a $5 million gift to USF St. Petersburg to support merit scholarship for full and part time undergraduate accounting and finance students.
In addition to that, she has also given more than $21 million to USF Muma College of Business and helped with a $500,000 donation to fund the new Wealth Management Center, where students apply real-world investment skills in managing an IRA, trading stocks and managing a client’s’ wealth.
Pippenger, who attended USF St. Petersburg in the 1980s, began working at Raymond James in 1969.
She was hired as a payroll clerk in the then-unknown brokerage firm.
Pippenger says it quickly evolved to become a “whatever comes my way” job, and she worked alongside founder Robert James and chairman Tom James to help build the company.
She served as chief financial officer and treasurer of the firm, while handling numerous special projects as the company grew. She created the firm’s human resources department and launched an internal educational program now known as “Raymond James University.”
Eventually, she helped file the paperwork to take the company public. Pippenger retired in 2012.
Caption for above photo: Pippenger addressing a crowd that gathered last year for the announcement of her $5 million gift to support a merit scholarship for undergraduate students in the Kate Tiedemann College of Business last year. This was the second largest single gift in USF St. petersburg history. |COURTESY OF USFSP
